The Critical Design Review (CDR) was completed by NASA in April 2018, and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was given the go-ahead to manufacture the satellite.

[5] The design and construction of Landsat 9 were assigned by NASA, under a delivery order contract to Orbital ATK, in October 2016.

[9] NASA assigned the TIRS-2 instrument as a directed development to Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

Design changes to the TIRS-2 are intended to address the stray light and Scene Select Mechanism (SSM) encoder problems experienced with the TIRS on Landsat 8.

[12] The launch of Landsat 9 was delayed to September 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on spacecraft work in Arizona.